Article 14 – The Intermediate State Of The Dead In Christ

Articles Of The Faith And Order Of A Primitive Or Strict And Particular Baptist Church Of The Lord Jesus Christ, Based On The Declaration Of Faith And Practice Of John Gill, D. D., 1720

XIV. The Intermediate State of the Dead in Christ.

We believe that the souls of all “who die in the Lord” are immediately ushered into His presence, and at once enter into rest, joy, and perfect holiness,^[1] and that their “mortal bodies,” though “the dust return to the earth as it was,” will be quickened and reunited to their heaven-born spirits at the “resurrection of the just.”^[2]

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[1] Is 57:2; Lk 23:43; Phil 1:23; 2 Cor 5:8; Rev 14:13
[2] Ecc 12:7; Lk 14:14; Jn 5:28,29; Rom 8:11; 1 Cor 15:20, 42-45; Heb 12:23

Annotations:

This Article consists of two parts, the first of which deals with The Intermediate Condition of the Blessed Dead.^[1]

Note 1.—To this, few, if any other Confessions of the Faith of the Strict and Particular Baptists refer. As, however, the ancient belief has been assailed by many, we should be prepared to “give a reason for the hope that is in us,” on a matter so vital to the peace and joy of God’s people.

The Intermediate State to be Distinguished from the Glorification of the Saints.

Note 2.—It is important to distinguish—as this and the following Article do—between the felicity of the souls of “the dead in Christ,” in their present excarnate or disembodied condition, and the perfect joy into which they will enter at the “resurrection of the just.” “At the resurrection of the flesh, both the happiness of the good and the torments of the wicked will bo increased.” Augustine, quoted in Cary’s Dante. (Inferno vi. 102-117.) See Dante in the Chandos Classics, pages 19 and 329.

It is popular to speak of those who “sleep in Jesus,” as “glorified saints.”^[2] This the New Testament never does. The glory to which we were ordained “before the world,” (1 Cor. 2:7,) comprehends not only the rest, happiness, and holiness of the soul, but its reunion with the body which it abandoned in death, and the assimilation of the believer in his whole person to the likeness of his beloved Lord. (1 John 3:2.)

Great as is the blessedness of those who have died in the Lord, their present condition is one of humiliation. Human souls were created to exist in conjunction with their own bodies. But for sin, there would have been no disembodied spirits; and all men would have lived for ever with untainted souls, dwell­ ing in incorrupted and incorruptible bodies.

Precision of thought on these momentous matters will materially aid us in our controversies with such as deny what God has revealed.

Death to the Christian, a Sleep.

Note 3.—The decease of God’s people is seldom called their “death” in the New Testament. In the majority of cases it is spoken of as “sleep.” This fact is fraught with consolation. It, however, demands consideration. The expression is figurative only; and by literalising it, men have been led into serious errors.

The dead bodies of the saints can, in no sense, be said to sleep. There is no analogy or resemblance between the dissolution and decay of their flesh in the grave, and our nightly rest and repose after the fatigues of the day.

The phrase “sleeping in Jesus,” refers only to the state of the soul after the death of the body until the Judgment Day. Various ideas which we associate with natural, healthy and invigorating sleep—its mysteriousness,—its following labour— (Ecc. 5:12,) the rest enjoyed in it, (Psa. 4:8,) its recuperative and renewing powers, (John 11:12,13,) its excluding from the mind the sense of external things, (Matt. 13:25,) and the fact that it is expressly said to be a blessing from God, (Psa. 127:2,) admirably illustrate the quiescence and happiness of holy disembodied souls, in the Master’s presence in Paradise.

It is, however of paramount importance that we insist that the expression is figurative only, and that we do not force it beyond permissible limits.

The Intermediate State, one of Consciousness.

Note 4.—“The bodies of men after death return to dust and see corruption: but their souls (which neither die nor sleep) having an immortal subsistence, immediately return to God who gave them.”—The Confession of Faith of the Westminster Assembly.

This has been denied by different individuals, and on very different grounds.

Materialists,^[3] who make no distinction between the mind of man and the brain, which, under existing conditions, is the organ of its action, insist that death, which destroys the latter absolutely, terminates all consciousness on the part of the former. In their judgment, the soul is dependent on the body for all communication with what is exterior to itself; and that, therefore, “the dead know not anything,” (Ecc. 9:5,) as the Scriptures assert.

Others,^[4] who literalise the word “sleep” when applied to the death of Christians, contend that their souls, until re-united to their bodies at the Resurrection, though freed from all perturbation and sorrow, are in a condition of unconscious quiescence and repose. (The ground of this error is apparent from Note 3.)

The testimony of the Scriptures, is, however, too clear to admit of hesitancy of judgment on the subject.

The Saviour assured the penitent robber, “This day shalt thou be with Me in Paradise;”^[5] and the words were assuredly designed to convey the impression that he should immediately enter into the joyful consciousness of His Lord’s presence in a happier state of existence.

Paul “desired to depart” because he would then be “with Christ,” which would be “far better” than even his present life of splendid endeavour and service, (Phil. 1:23.) This could not be affirmed of a condition of quiescence, wherein no efforts were put forth for the glory of his beloved Lord.

In 2 Cor. 5:6, Paul asserts that whereas whilst we are at home in the body, we are absent from the Lord.” Such however, will be the joy even of the intermediate state of the saints that “we are willing to be absent from the body, and to be at home with the Lord,” R.V. The word rendered “at home” in verse 6 is the same as that which is translated “present with” in verse 8, and indicates that, just as the soul, while now “at home” in the body, holds commerce with its present surroundings, so it will, after death, be at home, in conscious ease, joy and fellowship in the society of the Lord.

Appeal to the Book of the Revelation is, perhaps, less satisfactory, from the diversity of the schemes of interpretation adopted by different Christians. It is difficult to decide whether many passages should be assigned to the souls of the godly dead now, or to glorified saints hereafter.

The following passages, however, at least demand consideration.

Rev. 7:15 appears to teach that the spirits of the holy dead serve God in the upper Temple now; for the expression, “day and night,” as there will be “no night” in the final state, is referable only to the present period, (Rev. 21:25.) While men on earth are experiencing the continual changes which the succession of day and night causes, toiling, resting,—alternately exhausting energy by labour, and recouping it in sleep,—the sinless singers minister to God in ceaseless and unwearied service. Their condition, therefore, must bo one of happy consciousness.

Rev. 6:9,10, “Under the altar the souls of them that had been slain for the Word of God and for the testimony which they held,……cried with a great voice, saying, How long, O Lord, (or Master) the holy, the true, dost Thou not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth?”

Without at present attempting to determine whose souls these were, or what period of the Church’s history is referred to, the passage obviously implies that the disembodied spirits of the saints are in a conscious condition, and that they retain the recollection of what occurred when they wero in the world.

These are advanced suggestively only, for the attention of the studious reader. 

The Saints, after Death, at once enter into conscious joy.

Note 5.—Our Article asserts that “the souls of all who die in the Lord are immediately ushered into Christ’s presence, and at once enter into rest, joy, and perfect holiness.”

This is denied by Roman Catholics, who divide all sins into mortal and venial, and contend that, while the mortal sins of those who die in union with the Church are forgiven, and will not be punished in hell, their venial sins must be cleansed from them, after death, by the fire of Purgatory.

It must be conceded that, although this doctrine is indisputably unscriptural, and has been vilely prostituted by rapacious priests, to extort money from credulous people, for masses for the souls of thoir dead relatives, it deserves more attention than it has received from Protestants since the Reformation.^[6]

Degrees in Glory Denied.

Note 6.—It is affirmed by some that, while the three-fold blessings of salvation, Election, Redemption and Regeneration, will ensure the admission of the persons of God’s people into heaven, their good works after conversion will determine their station and dignity there. Some will he crowned in the upper world, some uncrowned. Some will occupy stations of superior eminence; others—to mark God’s disapprobation of their useless lives as Christians—will occupy inferior positions, and be invested with little dignity and honour. This is commonly styled the dootrine of degrees in glory, and those that maintain it are often supposed to have superior light and holiness.

It is, however, denied by the Strict and Particular Baptists, who hold that all that constitutes heaven, both our presence there and the enjoyments of that blessed world, will be entirely due to the sovereign grace of God and the merits of the Saviour. “Will there be degrees in glory?” I say at once, ‘No, I do not think so, and I do not believe it.’”—John Hazelton’s Sermons, Vol. i. page 144.

That the idea is a human fancy, is evident from the fact that it is wholly unsupported in the Bible. The few texts urged in its support are the following:—Dan 12:3: “And they that be wise shall shine as the brightness of the firmament; and they that turn many to righteousness as the stars for ever and ever.” A contrast, it is contended, is here drawn between Christians who have religion enough to take them to heaven, but who exert no influence for good upon others, and Christians who are Gospel workers and soul-winners. The first will, in heaven, be simply like the soft brightness of the evening sky; while the latter will be illustrious and conspicuous like the stars, to all eternity.

The verse, however, is a parallelism,^[7] the second part being a repetition of the former in other phraseology. “They that be wise,” and “they that turn many to righteousness,” are, therefore, the same persons. The words refer—not to all time—but to a special period, in which advocacy of the truth of God would be attended with peculiar peril, and entail dishonour, deprivation, and even death. The words are designed to con­ sole and encourage its bold confessors in that evil day. The glory of heaven would make amends for the sufferings of earth; and its honours compensate for the shame and suffering endured here.

Many faithful ministers and missionaries made but few converts, and the thought that these will be less eminent in heaven than others who were not so useful, is not the idea of the passage. All the godly dead will rise to “everlasting life,” (verse 2,) a phrase which designates fulness of joy in a happier world. ‘‘Well done, good and faithful servant,’’ (faithful to God, His truth, to his fellow-men, and to himself,)—not “Well done, numerically successful servant,” will be the Master’s welcome to “the joy of the Lord.”

The parable of the talents has been supposed to refer to different types of Christian character, (Matt. 25:14-30.) The servant who was entrusted with five, it is imagined, stands for a gifted and earnest Christian, whose evangelical efforts are largely used to the conversion of sinners: he that received two talents to a less clever but really devoted Christian; and he that received but one, to a lazy and listless saint, who does nothing for the glory of God, and the spiritual benefit of men. The honours conferred on the first two, it is thought, teach that good works on earth will entitle to rewards in heaven, and that the measure of our eternal blessedness will be determined by our evangelical and Christian liberality and labours, between our conversion and our death.

To this interpretation there are many objections.

The number of the talents entrusted to each of the servants was “according to his (natural) ability,” whereas spiritual gifts are bestowed by the Holy Ghost sovereignly on (spiritual) men, “severally as He will,” (1 Cor. 12:11.)

As a matter of fact, moreover, God, in His sovereignty, does not, as a rule, bestow eminent spiritual gifts on Christians of great natural powers. Many such, who were learned and eloquent, were far from widely useful in the Church—while others, who had little mental ability were largely owned to saints and sinners. In a word, there is, ordinarily, no observable correspondence between natural endowments and spiritual gifts, which is what the parable, if expounded as above, would distinctly teach.

Again, “he that received one” was as much a servant as the others, and the above interpretation would make our Lord teach that unfaithfulness after conversion will be punished with “outer darkness,” and “weeping and gnashing of teeth,” which is contrary to the truth of the Final Preservation of the saints.^[8]

1 Cor. 3:15—“ He himself shall be saved: yet so as by (or better “through”) fire.”

2 Pet. 1:11.—“For so an entrance shall be ministered to you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.”^[9]

These verses are frequently advanced as if they taught that, while all Christians will go to heaven, some will do so with diminished glory through their supineness and unfaithfulness, others will obtain conspicuous honour, as the reward of their illustrious efforts for Christ.

The verses, however, refer—as John Hazelton believed— solely to the act and article of death.

Some Christians die in great distress of mind, occasioned by bitter memories of their inconsistencies and deficiencies. Conscience upbraids them to the last. Their early joys have long left them, and they depart as a man might escape from a burning city, rushing through the flames for bare life. On the other hand, some Christians finish their course in the fulness of confidence and joy. (Acts 20:24)

The above sentiment is well expressed by W. Cullen Bryant, in his Thanatopsis. The passage is quoted, with fine effect, by Charles Hill in his Circular Letter on Sanctification, issued by the Suffolk and Norfolk Association of Baptised Churches for 1881.

“So live, that when thy summons comes to join

Th’ innumerable caravan which moves

To that mysterious realm, ere each shall take

His chamber in the silent halls of death,

Thou go not, like the quarry slave at night.

Scourged to his dungeon; but sustained and soothed 

By an unfalt’ring trust, approach thy grave,

Like one who wraps the drapery of his couch 

About him, and lies down to pleasant dreams.”

1 Cor. 15:41.—“For one star differeth from another star in glory.” 

Often quoted, in a loose and careless manner, as if it taught that some saints would be invested with greater glory than others. That this is not the meaning of the passage is, however, evident to all who read it in its connection. The Apostle is demonstrating the doctrine that those who die in the fear and faith of God will rise again, and is here meeting the difficulty expressed in the words “With what body do they that is, the godly dead—“come?” To this he replies that the material heavens manifest the power of God to create and sustain objects of different degrees of glory and beauty. So men in their present condition—with their natural wealth of physical, mental and moral endowment are glorious creatures, (Psa. 139:14); but the Christian in his final condition of glory will be as much more illustrious, as is one of the fixed stars than, (say) a small planet in the solar system.

Heb. 13:17. “They watch on behalf of your souls, as they that shall give account, that they may do this with joy, and not with grief (or groaning), for this (would be) unprofitable for you.” 

“Not with grief.” Often supposed to teach that unfaithful ministers will have less glory in a future state than others who were diligently con­ cerned for the spiritual welfare of their flock.

This is, however, an erroneous interpretation; for,

1. It is evident that good ministers of Jesus Christ are exclusively contemplated; for they watch (not for your or their own temporal advancement, as wealth-worshippers, but) for your souls.

2. They do this in recognition of their responsibility to God. “As those that must give account.” This does not mean after death, but in their approaches to God in prayer in this life. 

3. A faithful pastor sometimes comes to God with joy, and blesses Him for the steadfastuess and faith of his flock. Not unfrequently, however, when he tries to pray for his people, their apathy, luke-warmness and worldliness cause him to “groan” rather than to rejoice. This fact is the emphatic point of the passage.

Rev. 3:11. “To the Angel of the Church in Philadelphia write….. Hold that fast which thou hast, that no man take thy crown….He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the Churches.”

“I am glad that God had seven thousand that did not bow the knee to Baal; but I’d rather have Elijah’s little finger than the whole seven thousand. I wouldn’t give much for seven thousand Christians in hiding. They will just barely get into heaven. They won’t have any crown. See that no man take thy crown..” D. L. Moody.

Whether this gentleman has ever come out boldly to declare that salvation is by sovereign and discriminating grace, and so risk his popularity, does not appear. There is little that is Elijah-like in giving crowded audiences Arminianism and other flesh-pleasing errors.

The text quoted is addressed to a Church, through its pastor. It is bidden to hold fast the doctrines and ordinances it had received—lest, if it yield to the seductions of a false teacher, its spirituality and power should be lost, and its very existence as a spiritual assembly cease.

The Resurrection of the Saints.

Note 7.—On this great and glorious truth, Strict and Particular Baptists are in accord with all Evangelical Christians. On some points, however, they differ among themselves; as, for example, whether the Resurrection of God’s people will precede or follow the Millennium; whether the saints will or will not be summoned in their whole risen persons before the bar of God at the last day to be judged;^[10] and in what the identity of the Resurrection body with the present one will consist.

The Mutual Recognition of the Saints in Heaven.

Some Strict and Particular Baptists have denied that we shall know one another in our future condition of blessedness —mainly on the ground of difficulties associated with this view of the subject.

1. The joy of Heaven (they contended) will be the vision of God, and near and dear fellowship with the Well-beloved. To see His face in righteousness will be fulness of joy—a joy incompatible with even the desire to renew the friendships of this life of struggle and sorrow.

2. It has been thought that the recognition of friends in heaven would be attendod with more pain than pleasure. The eternal absence of some that were dear on earth would (it has been contended) cause continual anguish—while the disparity which time and change will have caused during the interval of the survivorship of the friend or relative who last died, will, it has been urged, effectually prevent any enjoyment in the resumption of intercourse hereafter. Our dear friend, W. H., of Ipswich—who lost a beloved wife in her youth—was in the habit of saying, “What joy could it be to her to meet in her husband of years ago, a man of advanced age, the greater part of whose life had been passed apart from her, and in scenes and associations of which she knew nothing?”

These are samples of objections which have been raised.

The majority of thoughtful Strict and Particular Baptists would, we think, endorse the following “conversational observation” from the lips of the sainted John Stevens. Memoir, page 116.

“That we shall have a general knowledge of each other in the heavenly world, I firmly believe. Whether it will be connected with what occurred on earth I cannot tell. God certainly can retain so much in our remembrance as will be necessary to our felicity, and [cause us to] drop the rest.

“I believe that we shall know one another in the celestial world, without any of those natural feelings of which some talk; as of the delight which will fill their souls to meet their friends at the bar of God.

“I think that the only ground of our delight in the case, will be in seeing another object of mercy, after all its wanderings, brought home to God.

“Another says, ‘How shall I meet such an one on that day?’^[11] I answer, ‘My friend, you need not fear; no past connections in this lower world will on that day afford either pleasure or pain, [to God’s people] and though we may review the past, it will be without that feeling which would cling to another because I loved him here; for I consider that the whole enjoyment of Heaven will be completely spiritual.

“When I look at my connections here, I remember that there was a time when such a person was nothing to me; then there came a time when that person comprehended all my pleasures; and afterwards that person was again nothing to me—he was gone—the relationship was dissolved.

“All these connections I see are transitory, are for a time only, and then for ever end.

“The relationship of heaven will be purely spiritual: Christ is the comprehending Head.”

The reader may with advantage consult Stock’s “Handbook of Revealed Theology, First Edition, pages 249-256.

Texts to be studied: 2 Sam. 12:23; Matt. 7:11;^[12] 1 Thess. 2:19; 1 Thess. 4:13,14 ; Heb. 12:22,23.

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[1] Two very curious and suggestive books on the Intermediate State are commended to the reader’s attention. “On Dreams, in their Mental and Moral Aspect, as affording Auxiliary Arguments for the Existence of Spirit, for a Separate State, and and for a Particular Providence,” by John Sheppard, of Frome, the friend of John Foster, the essayist. Also “An Autumn Dream, Thoughts in Verse on the Intermediate State of Happy Spirits,” by the same author. The latter, with its notes, which manifest a wonderful wealth of knowledge, is beyond praise. It is a real poem, vivifying and illustrating its abstruse subject in a marvellous way.
[2] Though the word “glory” is used to denote the future happiness of the saints, it always includes the happiness of the body as well as the soul, in the state of the Resurrection. I remember no text wherein the word “glory” is used to denote the happiness of the separate state. Glory belongs to the perfect man—to the body as well as the soul—in Scripture language, to body and soul united. The body has its glory and brightness as well as the soul its excellencies and honours. When Christ appears, we shall appear also with Him in glory. We shall then appear vested in heavenly bodies like His own, (1 Cor. 15:43.) For the body itself, which is sown into dust, in disgraceful and dishonourable circumstances, will be raised in light and glory.”—From a Sermon by Dr. Watts, reprinted in the Gospel Herald, March, 1882.
[3] Prominent among these was the celebrated Dr. Priestly, an eminent Socinian. A wit proposed the following as an appropriate epitaph to him:—“Here lies, secure in oaken chest, packed up together neatly, The flesh and veins, and bones and brains, and soul of Dr. Priestly.”
[4] Some of these are spiritually-minded Christians. Rev. Francis Tucker, of ever-blessed memory, told the writer that his spiritual father, the saintly Mr. Nicholson, of Plymouth, very strongly inclined to the belief that the condition of the believer’s soul, when separated from the body by death, was one of insensibility; and that his dying words to his beloved wife were, “Good-bye, dear, perhaps till the morning of the Resurrection.” See the excellent Article on the Intermediate State, in Buck’s Theological Dictionary by Henderson, Edition 1841, and the Article on Soul-sleepers, in A Dictionary of All Religions, by Hannah Adams, Williams’ Edition, London, 1823.
[5] The Christadelphians read this, “Verily I say unto thee today, thou shalt be with Me in Paradise.” To such extremes of tolly does the perversity of error carry some persons.
[6] See the Article on the Intermediate State in Litton’s Introduction to Dogmatic Theology, Vol. ii. page 330. The doctrine of Purgatory has been revived among the Congregationalists—a section of the Church once eminent for their adherence to evangelical truth. A distinguished novelist and poet, who occasionally preaches, has a lecture on Dante, in which he affirms that, while Christians have learned to abandon the mediaeval error of eternal punishment—which is the burden of the Inferno—they have re-embraced the truth (?) that a process of discipline, which will cleanse the saints from the stains of error and sin, must be undergone by them before they enter into the joy of Paradise—as taught in the Purgatorio. In the “Notes on the Scripture Lessons” recently issued by the Sunday-school Union, in an exposition of the parable of “The Rich Man and Lazarus,” we read: “Abraham is still the father of those who are being purified by punishment.” “Purified by punishment!” Then this is “another Gospel” of salvation by hell! Sins can be purged away by the fires of Gehenna that are not washed away by the blood of Christ. May we suggest that the officials of the Union might, with advantage to editors and readers, look into these notes?”—From “ Word and Work.”
[7] This word has been given to a peculiar feature in Hebrew poetry, from the fact that the first half of a verse runs, as it were, even or parallel with the second. It is a species of rhyme in which (instead of words rhyming with words as with us,) ideas answer to ideas, and words, as to their significance, to words, as if fitted to each other by a certain rule or measure. The above verse, poetically arranged, would appear thus:—And they that are wise shall shine as the brightness of the firmament: And they that turn many to righteousness shall shine as the stars for ever and ever. See Angus’s Bible Handbook, number 286; and Horne’s Introduction, Eighth Edition, vol. ii. page 495. The figure Hyperbaton, referred to on page 26 is an elabor­ ated variety of the Hebrew parallelism.
[8] Sufficient attention has not been given to the primary meaning of the parables of the Ten Virgins and of The Talents. The parable of the Virgins refers to the first advent of Christ,—His gracious reception of His elect and God-taught followers,—and the rejection of the Jewish nation. The wise virgins stand for those who, like Simeon, waited with docile and expectant hearts “for the consolation of Israel,” (Luke 2:25,)—the long-promised coming of the Christ. The foolish virgins represent the religious professors of that day,—notably the Pharisees, and those that were subject to their influence. The lamp which each virgin carried stands for the Scriptures of the Old Testament, (Psa. 119:105,) with the subject-matter of which both parties were familiar. The oil in each lamp, at first, points to the power inherent in the Word of God, to instruct the rational mind of man in the truth of God. The oil in the vessels sets forth that gracious knowledge of the spiritual meaning of the Scriptures which is imparted to devout men, who, like Daniel, patiently and prayerfully ponder over the sacred pages, (Dan. 9:2 and 10:1.) The slumber of the ten, points to the general unpreparedness of men for the advent of Christ. The cry at midnight to the ministry of John the Baptist, (John 3:29,)—the awakening of the wise virgins, to the zeal with which those who were drawn by the Father came to Jesus Christ, (John 6:37-45,) and the exclusion of the foolish virgins, to the rejection of the Jews. Opinions may differ as to the interpretation of details, but it is submitted that this is the general meaning of the parable in its original import. The view entertained by the late John Hazelton, of the Parable of the Talents, was that the servant who received the ten talents stands for the Apostles to whom the largest measure of grace and light was given. He that received two talents represents the seventy, who were specially endowed with evangelical gifts, and sent by Christ on a mission through­ out the Holy Land. The man who had but one talent represents the Scribes and Pharisees, who had the truth of God in the letter of the Scriptures of the Old Testament, but hid it in the napkin of their vicious traditions and glosses, so that it lost its moral power over the hearts and consciences of the people at large. The investment of the one talent indicates the full and honest proclamation of the truth taught in the Old Testament, which was the duty of those who professed to expound and enforce it, and which would have led to its reception into the minds of men, and so, to its circulation and increase. In favour of this view, it is submitted that there is an evident parallel between the Parable of the Talents and the Parable of the Pounds. (Luke 19:11-27.) The latter is distinctly said to have had a dispensational application, and to have referred to the Jewish nation; and, if so, the parable of the Talents should be interpreted on similar lines. It is not urged that these parables have no ulterior spiritual application. Our sole concern here is their primary meaning, the sense in which those who heard them spoken, must have understood them. It may be hinted that if, in its secondary and spiritual interpretation, the Parable of the Talents teaches the doctrines of rewards in heaven for works on earth, and degrees of glory hereafter, the Parable of the Pounds emphatically does not do so.
[9] Often misquoted “you shall have an abundant entrance,” perhaps only noticeable as exemplifying the small respect popularly paid to the letter of the Authorised Version.
[10] In his Apples of Gold, chapter 5, Thomas Brooks, the Puritan, enquires Whether in the great Day of Account, the sins of saints will be brought into the judgment of discussion and dis­ covery or not? and he establishes the negative by divers arguments.—Nichol’s Edition, vol. i., pages 220—224.
[11] As in the case of individuals who were at bitter variance on earth—for instance, John Wesley and M. A. Toplady, whom the former so shamefully traduced in his dying hours. An extreme case is given in A Manual of Faith and Practicene—namely, that of a murderer and his victim, supposing that both by grace enter heaven. Page 60.
[12] “Many shall come from the east and west, and sit down with Abraham and Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven.” John Hazelton was wont to dispute the popular interpretation of this verse—namely, that it referred to the future world of joy; and regarded it as teaching that sovereign grace will bring many Gentiles from all parts of the world into living association with Jews that have received Christ, in the one Church of the living God. Compare Gal. 3:9.